


(un)conditional love

by fallpoutboy



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anti Kylo Ren, Eventual Romance, F/M, Making Sense of Canon, Mentions of Kylo Ren, Miscommunication, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Sorry Not Sorry, Tatooine (Star Wars), The Author Regrets Nothing, anti reylo, finn and jannah are siblings, finn has feelings, finn is his own character, that kiss was bullshit lol, they ruined rey's character and i have put together the pieces for this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22221586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallpoutboy/pseuds/fallpoutboy
Summary: Finn and Rey have a much needed heart to heart conversation about everything that's happened but Finn needs time to digest and come to terms with the dire kiss that Rey and Kylo shared.
Relationships: Finn/Rey (Star Wars)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 66
Collections: Finnrey Fanfic Connection





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As a Finn star wars fan first, finnrey stan second, I obviously feel some type of way with how TROS depicted Finn and how it handled their relationship. But I also feel that if they were get together in a post canon scenario (which is entirely possible), Finn wouldn't have swept the kiss Rey shared with Kyloben under the rug, regardless of his (poorly done) "redemption". Hence this fic was born. Enjoy!!

When the post battle celebrations finally started to dwindle down, Rey seeks Finn out first. He was sitting with Jannah and Lando, having just made preparations to start searching for their respective parents with help from Lando and his exclusive contacts and connections all across the galaxy, and was only passively listening now. Seeing Rey, alive, healthy and beautiful as ever, approach him, he stands and accepted her invitation to go somewhere private to talk. They reach Rey's quarters and Finn can only vaguely ignore the implications of being alone with her to focus on what he has to say to her.

"I'm pretty sure I have the Force."

"I'm Emperor Palpatine's granddaughter."

They both start at the same time and can only gape at the other when they've heard what was spoken. Rey's visible shock quickly turns to joy and she grins and launches herself into his arms. Still astounded, Finn could only halfheartedly hug her back as the cogs turn in his head. _She's a Palpatine? I could've never expected that. I would have sooner guessed that she's General Leia' and_ _Han's_ _long lost daughter, as unlikely as that is._

"Oh Finn... that's wonderful! You know, I always had a little suspicion you had it as well, but we just never had the time to talk about it," Rey admits and pulls out his arms.

"And we do now... but what was that about you being Palpatine's grandchild?"

"Oh yes, Ben told me when I was on his Star Destroyer and I saw visions of my parents. When I confronted the Emperor on Exegol, he confirmed that his son met my mother, had me and later ran away to escape his influence." Her words appalled him, but it was a certain name she said that confused him.

"Ben...?"

"Yes, Ben was Kylo Ren, but Leia gave her life to turn him back to the light-side," Rey confirms and get a faraway look in her eyes. "He came to help me on Exegol but Palpatine overpowered us both.... I wouldn't be alive without him." 

"Rey... I felt you die through the Force," Finn laments and she meets his eye again. "It was the most devastating feeling I've ever felt in my life. I'm just so glad that you're alive and here now."

"You felt me die? That must mean we're connected through the Force, the same way I was with Ben. Yes, with some difficulty, I was able to summon the strength of past Jedi and defeat the Emperor for good. But the toll of it made me very weak and I blacked out and collapsed. The next thing I see when I woke up was Ben, holding me in his arms, all of his life force having been transferred to me. I lived but he died."

Finn winces at the imagery of her death and her in Kylo Ren's embrace but Rey doesn't notice. The way Rey recounted the events and the sad tone in which she talks of Kylo also confuses him. "Your bond with him must've been pretty strong." It's the only thing Finn can say. 

"Yes, it was Snoke, who was actually Palpatine this entire time, who had forged the bond between us," Rey drops another verbal bomb on him as if it was nothing, and continues. "Our bond was strong but it wasn't strong enough to keep him alive."

"Well maybe that's for the best." The words were out of Finn's mouth before he even realized but he doesn't find himself regretting it. Rey squints and looks at him quizzically. "Just because he returned to the light and helped you the one time, doesn't take away from the fact that he did many terrible things, by choice."

"I know that Finn, I know, it's just..." Rey struggles and trails off. "He chose to reject his Kylo persona, join me on Exegol and fight the Emperor with me. And he chose to give his life for mine. When I woke up and saw him... it was as if I was seeing the true Ben Solo for the first time and I..."

"You... what, Rey?"

"I kissed him."

Her words hit him like a punch to gut and Finn's mouth fell open in horrified shock again. Finn couldn't believe what he heard, recognizing the truth in her words through the Force and can see the memory of it clear in her mind. Rey, his best friend and love of his life (also something he needed to tell her), had kissed the Supreme Leader. Finn knew all about meaningless, in the heat of the moment kisses, having experienced one firsthand with Rose during the battle of Crait. They talked about it afterwards and mutually came to the decision that it meant nothing and they were better off as friends, but something about Rey's confession told him that wasn't the case here. Only a year ago, Kylo Ren had kidnapped Rey, killed Han in front of them, threw Rey against a kriffing tree, pinned Snoke's death on her, chased the Resistance across the galaxy, had done more harm than good but decided to change ways last minute and help Rey at the last minute doesn't erase any of his crimes. The fact that Finn knew that Rey knew all of that, and she just didn't seem to care just made his head hurt. 

When Rey sees Finn's continued silence, she breaks it. "I don't know what came over me in that moment, but I couldn't have done anything else."

_She couldn't have done anything else...?_ "Oh." Stumped again, its the only thing Finn could say.

"So, you understand now, right?"

".... No." Finn has lied to Rey before and swore to never do so again. "It's just... I wasn't aware you had feelings for him."

"I felt a lot of things for and with Ben. Sometimes bad things, like anger, fear and pity. And sometimes good things too, like hope and compassion."

"Do you.... love him?" Finn forces the bitter question out and braces for her answer.

"I don't think so, no. I cared for him a lot and I only wished he could've seen the light that was inside himself all along. He could've done great things if he had turned sooner." As soon as Rey finished speaking, Finn's back injury twitches and he remembers the reason why he attained it, one year ago.

A palpable, awkward silence falls over them and Rey breaks their eye contact and stares at the floor. In over one year of friendship, they've never shared an awkward silence before, their alone time either has been filled with conversation, mission plans being drawn out, fears and life stories expressed, jokes shared back and forth or with just a normal and calm quiet when they've said everything they wanted to say. This was a first for them, an unwelcome and unpleasant first.

"I should probably go," Finn starts and turns towards the door and Rey finally looks up.

"Wait. Before, in Pasaana, you said you wanted to tell me something. Now's a better time than ever to tell me, without Poe being nosy or without any interruptions," Rey suggests and Finn momentarily hesitates. 

"I already said what I wanted to say, I have the Force too," Finn replies and walks out of her room without looking back. In actuality, Finn also wanted to tell her that he loved her, as more than a friend but he never said he wanted to tell her two things, so that didn't count as a lie, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say, Kylo's last minute redemption was contrived, problematic, and ruined his and Rey's character's. The kiss was just the icing on the fucking cake of a bad movie. This is me expressing my contempt for it, through the eyes of a character who has an actual bond with and loves Rey. And yes, I firmly believe Finn wouldn't be so readily accepting to the knowledge of the kiss for the obvious reasons. If you liked it, please leave kudos and a comment if you will. Thanks for reading!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One month later, Finn and Rey catch up Tatooine, hoping to repair the awkward gap in their friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really wasn't prepared for the response i got for this, thank you all so much for empathizing with it. i'm black and i see the various ways the sw fandom treats finn, a black character and one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, and it makes me really mad. john boyega was sidelined as both a main character and as a love interest when the force awakens led him and all of us to believe he'd be both. i wanted his character to be a fully fleshed out and a fully realized character, along with rey, but that didn't happen due to the incompetency of lucasfilm and inconsistency of the last jedi and the rise of skywalker. maybe if they had planned the story out from the beginning and stuck with it, i wouldn't be writing this right now. but oh well, life goes on and here we are, so please enjoy the second part of this story.

On the surface, Tatooine may have looked a lot like Jakku, but Rey was quick to find out the differences between the two planets. Jakku didn't have two suns, which meant the temperatures on Tatooine rose quickly and the days were hotter than what she was used to, so she quickly had to make use of the vaporators on the Skywalker moisture farm. To get the needed parts to fix them, Rey made the short journey to Mos Eisley, a sprawling spaceport, and encountered the people who turned out to be nicer than she expected. On Jakku, people weren't generally pleasant and only spoke to you unless they wanted something of you, and Rey was grateful for the change. Only a moon after her arrival, she went to Mos Eisley again to meet her friend, the person she knows the best, the man trusted intrinsically and knew would never hurt her . _Finn._

Rey parked her used speeder and made her way over to the cantina they had planned to meet at. Inside, a lively band played a jumping tune which didn't help the nerves rolling through her. _Calm down, its just Finn. He's obviously feeling good enough to meet with you again,_ the voice in her head reassured her but Rey was still unsure. After their fateful discussion of events, in which Rey revealed that she impulsively kissed Ben and Finn leaving right after, Rey left the base the very next day for Tatooine to bury Luke and Leia's lightsabers. Finn and Poe had seen her off, of course, but when it was time to say farewell to Finn, they mutually said goodbye and quickly shared an aloof hug, so unlike their many lingering caring hugs. He couldn't meet her eyes afterwards and she all but ran into the Falcon and powered up the ship to leave. Their stunted parting bothered her and Rey then reached out to him through hologram. The conversation was short, as Finn was just landing on a system with Lando and Jannah to start the search for his family but they've kept in constant contact since then. Rey recently suggested that he come to Tatooine so they could talk in person and Finn agreed, leading them up to this moment now.

He was sitting at a booth in the corner and immediately met her eye as soon as she walked in. Rey smiled shyly at him and Finn grinned back and stood up when she came over and enveloped her into a warm hug. The familiar smell of his clean musk and minted garments invaded her senses and Rey couldn't help but smile into his shoulder. It had only been a month since she has last saw him but it truly felt like much longer. A muffled "Rey" came from him as he turned his head, pressed a kiss into her hair and then finally let her go.

"I'm so glad you came," Rey said and sat down in the booth and Finn slid right in next to her but left a little space between them.

"Well, you asked me here and I obliged," Finn replied and took a sip of the drink in front of him.

"Yes, I'm sorry I took time out of His Grace's busy day," Rey mirthfully joked and Finn ducked his head and smiled. "The crown prince of Artorias had time to visit his little friend in a Outer Rim planet, it's practically an act of charity." Their laughter earned them a few nasty looks from the bar's patrons but it was otherwise ignored.

Finn and Jannah both ended up tracking their origins to Artorias, a system located in the Mid Rim and they discovered soon after that they were the long missing royal children. The First Order took both of Artorias' heirs to the crown for the planets compliance to the First Order's will and Finn and Jannah were split up as young children. It was nothing short of a miracle that they had unknowingly reunited towards the end of the war and stuck together to find out the truth of their origins, only to find out that they were family the entire time. When Rey learned the news from Finn the week before, she was shocked but ultimately very happy for them. _Look at us now,_ Rey mused, _an ex-stormtrooper and a scavenger, turned Prince of Artorias and a Jedi from the Palpatine bloodline, who would've thought?_

"But seriously, please don't even call me Your Grace," Finn stated once they calmed down. "I hear enough of it from everybody there so I don't need it from you, too."

"Alright, I promise I won't mention it," Rey said. "But speaking of which, I do have an important question to ask you."

Finn only stared at her intently and Rey took that as a sign to continue. "As you know, I buried Luke and Leia's lightsabers at the homestead, but I removed the kyber crystals from each saber first. I used one kyber crystal to remake a new lightsaber for myself but the other one doesn't serve any purpose right now. So I was thinking if...."

"...If what?" Finn implored after she trailed off.

"If maybe you could take the kyber crystal and make your own lightsaber," Rey admitted and Finn's eyebrows rose. "I may be the last Jedi, Finn, but that doesn't mean I have to be."

Finn took a moment to absorb her words and then spoke with caution. "Rey, you're asking me to... become a Jedi? With you?" 

"Yes, but only if you can," Rey clarified. "I don't want it to impede with your royal duties."

"Oh wow, that is... this is really something," Finn whispered in awe and Rey's heart swelled at his tone. "It would be an honor but I'd have to check with my parents and their council to make sure it’s okay."

"Of course Finn, take as much time as you need to consider it," Rey affirmed. "Truthfully, I've been thinking about rebuilding the Jedi Order for some time now but I didn't know where to start. Or who to start it with. It wasn't until a month ago when you told me that you had the Force too that I had started to seriously consider it, with Leia being dead now and so is...."

"Ben," Finn muttered sardonically, finishing Rey's sentence for her. They tensely stared at each other until Rey broke eye contact first. She remembered their strained conversation all too well and with it came the emotions and other memories. Memories of Exegol, of the sudden surge of power of all the past Jedi, of dying, of awaking in Ben's embrace, of their Force Bond strongly pulsating around them, influencing and affecting her, of kissing Ben for far too long, and of Ben suddenly falling back and dying. She couldn't even reconcile what she had just did before Ben died abruptly right in front her and how her horrified shock quickly left her as she left the cave to regroup with everyone. Everything had happened so fast and in the aftermath, Rey was still reeling from it and it wasn't until she had told Finn of the kiss, that it had actually sunken in. His reaction wasn't expected and Rey felt the confusion and jealousy roll off of him, which initially confused her until she left Ajan Kloss and realized why that was. At least, she had a pretty good idea of why that was.

"Okay, if we're going to finally talk about this, I think we should do this someplace else," Rey conceded and gestured around. In truth, the cantina was great but it just wasn't the place to discuss such delicate matters. "Your ship or mine?"

"Yours, I'd like to see the Skywalker ranch for myself," Finn agreed and left a few Republic credits on the table. Together they stood up and she led the way back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> third and final part coming soon! this was my first time writing in rey's pov and i hope i did her justice. please comment and leave kudos!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Finn and Rey come to a mutual understanding with each other and with their feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What started off as a oneshot/ somewhat self indulgent spitefic turned into a 3 part story and I'm really happy I wrote something I was initially so scared to write. Thank you for all the encouraging and supportive comments on here and on Tumblr, I read all of them and I'm very grateful for them. So without further ado, please read the last part of this story and enjoy!!

The ride back to the homestead from Mos Eisley took a considerable amount of time but for the most part, they spent it in a pleasant silence. Finn surmised they were both preoccupied with their respective thoughts, his and most likely her's too both contemplating the crucial conversation that was almost upon them. _What will she say?_ _What will I say? What if she decided that she loves Kylo, even after his death? Could I accept that? Is Rey going to live on Tatooine permanently? And if not, would she come with me to Artorias? Is it good if-_

"So what do you think Finn," Rey unexpectedly asked, breaking Finn out his stupor, and gestures around to the endless desert and mountain crests in the distance. "Better or worse than Jakku?"

Finn chuckles and recalled the inside joke between him, Rey and Poe, his closest friends knowing all to well how much he disliked Jakku. "Well aside from the dual suns, this is a serious improvement from that junkyard."

"You just haven't seen the sunset yet, it's really quite a sight." 

Eventually Finn felt a spike in humidity, they had reached the moisture farm. They both climbed out of the speeder and Finn saw a few vaporators planted the ground and a inner den which must've been the residence.

"It's not much," Rey said and unlocked the door into the burrow. "But this is where Master Luke grew up and his family before him."

She led him down the stairs and into the kitchen. There, BB-8 beeped ecstatically and Finn knelt to greet the little droid. He took a seat at the table and Rey took something out of a drawer and held out her hand. In her palm was pale blue colored kyber crystal. Finn reached out to take it but he hesitated. There would be no going back if he took something so invaluable yet dear from her.

"I read from somewhere in my Jedi texts, that the strongest stars have hearts of kyber," Rey declared and pressed the crystal in his hand. "Its yours... it'll always be yours. No matter what you do with it."

He took the crystal from her, all the while looking in her eyes as an intense undercurrent simmered between them. "Thank you, Rey," Finn managed to say and pocketed it.

"You're welcome," Rey said with a hint of a smile and took a deep breath in. "And now I should properly explain myself this time and from the beginning. When Palpatine bridged my mind to Ben's one year ago, it didn't start off well. I was scared and confused and whenever I had to see and interact with him, it rightfully angered me. But soon, our Force connection allowed us to feel what the other felt and that affected me deeply. It crept into me like a virus, it manipulated me into feeling sympathetic and compassionate for Ben and him for me too. On a base level, I knew what he was and how I should've felt towards him but with the connection, it had overridden my good judgement and I did things I now realize I shouldn't have. Things like trusting him, healing him from death on Kef Bir and kissing him when he revived me in-turn on Exegol." Rey paused and gulped, taking a moment to compose herself. "As soon as he died, I was upset but I felt something inside me snap and fade away, just as he did, and that's when I knew the connection was broken for good. When we reunited back on Ajan Kloss, I felt good but it was all so soon and the experience was still so fresh in my head. I tried to rationalize it to you in the best way that I could but I didn't even fully understand it myself then. 

The solitude here helped me clear my head and realize everything for what it really was. You had told me you felt me die and I said that we have a Force bond," she reached across the table and took his hand, intertwining their fingers together. "But what we share is so unlike anything I had with Ben. Our bond formed naturally and grew strong, strong enough for you to have felt me die. You can sense what I'm feeling and so can I. As in, right now you feel... relief and contentedness. I feel the same, but it's so much more. Finn, I feel differently for you then I have for anyone else. I can't describe it, but it's deeper than what I feel for Poe and Rose and wildly different than what I felt for Ben."

A short series of beeps unexpectedly sounded from BB-8 and they both took in what it said. Finn smiled, nodded and rubbed his thumb along the back of Rey's hand. "Yes, BB-8, I do believe the feeling is love."

They blissfully smiled at each other and the simmering undercurrent returned in full force. Instinctively, their heads came together and Finn held his breath. Rey's tongue peeked out to wet her bottom lip and Finn took his other hand and rested it gently on her jaw. They met in the middle for the best and truest kiss either of them ever had, cementing the mutual love that began that fateful day in Jakku and had ended up being written in the stars. When they finally broke apart, Finn's eyes opened first and saw her's slowly open but another smile had graced her lips and Finn felt a tug on his heart. The truth between them was finally apparent: he loved her, but most importantly, she loved him back. 

"That was what you wanted to tell me on Pasaana, right?" Rey surmised and Finn nodded in assent. "Then it's a good thing I've felt the same for quite some time. In fact, ever since you came back for me on Starkiller Base."

Finn pulled her back into another sweet lingering kiss but soon cut it to ask her something dire. "Wait, I read somewhere that Jedi are forbidden to love. Is that really true?"

"It was, some fifty years ago, " Rey shrugged. "Luke abolished the decree when he remade his Jedi Order, mainly because it's a dull rule and it was one of the reasons why his father went to the dark-side. I don't plan on bringing that rule back anytime soon."

"Well, good, because that'd put a real damper on this, right?" Finn joked and they both giggled and leaned in for a tender third kiss. He knew the reason for her blunder with Kylo, and although he didn't like it, he knew better than anyone how a harmful influence can negatively effect your life and couldn't hold it against her. It seemed wrong to dawdle on past mistakes, especially when their future gleamed bright and hopeful ahead of them.

A short time later, after they continued talking and making plans for the future, Finn found himself outside of the homestead with Rey and BB-8, watching the breathtaking binary sunset fall into the Tatooine horizon, filling them with an aura of hope and peace. They held hands, a united front, ready to face the world together but they both knew the worst of their troubles were behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any GOT/ASOIAF fans here? I put a quote from my favorite GOT couple in rey's dialogue and i wanna know if anyone here recognized it. And yes, I had to include a binary sunset ending because, not only does fit well, but it was revealed post tros that they cut finn and rey holding hands on tatooine, which was supposedly payoff to what finn was trying to tell her before. Cut finnrey to shreds but leave in the reylo kiss, that makes perfect sense. I hope my retconning of the kiss makes some sense, i partially got it from a theory i read on tumblr. Please comment and leave kudos and thank you so so so much for reading!! I may write a sequel story to this if i'm feeling up for it but we'll see...


End file.
